Creating Methodology Assemblages Through Rhizoanalysis and Cartography

Introduction. Rooted in Deleuze and Guattari's poststructural philosophy, this study explores rhizomatic learning of English by secondary school students within informal learning environments. This research design, reflecting the assemblage of diverse components, embodies principles of multiplicity, nonlinearity, and de-territorialization.
Research questions: How can the integration of diverse components, such as theories, methods, tools, and data, within a Deleuze and Guattari-inspired methodological assemblage, enhance the understanding of rhizomatic learning processes?
Goals and Methods. The authors employ Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of rhizome, concepts from Jackson and Mazzei’s (2012) Thinking with Theory and the notion of patchwork(ing) methodologies (Higgins et al., 2017). The study involves narrative analysis of student interviews (Barkhuizen et al., 2020) and employs a cartography approach to construct rhizomatic maps revealing decentralised and non-hierarchical learning structures. It refers to Deleuzoguattarian principles of connectivity and heterogeneity, multiplicity and rupture. The researchers, integrated as creators within assemblages, played an important role, crafting rhizomatic maps with programs Excel, Pajek, Inkscape.
Results. The confluence of cartography and rhizoanalysis revealed the multiplicity of rhizomatic assemblages and nomadic ways of learners involving human (peers, social networks, etc.), non-human actors (computer games, movies, social media, books, cultural industry products, etc.) and more-than-human (AI, etc.) elements. The selection of methodologies for this research was intertwined with the authors' (a PhD student and her supervisor) evolving ‘becoming’ and metamorphosis of rhizomatic professional identities and educational journeys. The authors outline the (re)definition of research territories, shaped by the genre and standards of the research (PhD thesis research) and the subsequent institutional negotiations leading to de-territorialization, and expanding disciplinary boundaries of educational research and incorporating philosophy and language studies.
Conclusions. The findings emphasize the value of methodological assemblages incorporating cartography and rhizoanalysis in exploring learning complexities in diverse contexts.